Obama calls on HuffPost for Iran question UPDATE  —  In what appeared to be a coordinated exchange, President Obama called on the Huffington Post's Nico Pitney near the start of his press conference and requested a question directly about Iran.  —  “Nico, I know you and all across the Internet …

Sanford Returns!  —  Gov. Mark Sanford is set to return to South Carolina tomorrow.  AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain  —  South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will return to the state tomorrow after spending the last five days hiking the Appalachian Trail, according to a statement released by his office this morning.

About Last Night  —  I've been receiving a steady stream of favorable emails from Iranian-Americans regarding my appearance on Larry King last night.  They're delighted that I made it clear that Iran is different from the other countries in the region—better educated, more sophisticated …

Israeli Radio Show Captivates Iranians  —  JERUSALEM—In his Friday sermon, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reserved special wrath for “Zionist radio” that he said tried to drive a wedge between the Iranian people and the Islamic Republic.  Such attention from Iran's supreme leader was music to the ears …

Tapes Reveal Nixon's View of Abortion  —  WASHINGTON — On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement.  But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence.

Son's Death Has Iranian Family Asking Why  —  TEHRAN—The family, clad in black, stood at the curb of the road sobbing.  A middle-aged mother slapped her cheeks, letting out piercing wails.  The father, a frail man who worked as a doorman at a clinic in central Tehran, wept quietly with his head bowed.

David Westin Responds to Members of the Congressional Media Fairness Caucus  —  Dear Congressman Smith:  —  Thank you for your letter of today's date concerning our planned coverage tomorrow of health care reform in America.  I am pleased that you agree that the subject deserves extensive and careful coverage.

Iran bans election protest footballers  —  Ali Karimi, Mehdi Mahdavikia and two others are ‘retired’ after sporting green wristbands in World Cup qualifier in Seoul  —  Their gesture attracted worldwide comment and drew the attention of football fans to Iran's political turmoil.

Longtime Clinton confidant Blumenthal to become Clinton advisor  —  Longtime journalist and former Clinton White House advisor Sidney Blumenthal will become a special advisor without portfolio to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, The Cable has learned.  Blumenthal refused to comment.

President Obama Holds Press Conference  —  Opens with Discussion on Health-Care, Iranian Elections and Energy Policy  —  [*] OBAMA: Hello, everybody.  Good afternoon, everybody.  —  Today, I want to start by addressing three issues, and then I'll take your questions.

Through the Looking Glass With Andrew Sullivan  —  Perhaps the single, common life goal of every intellectual, pseudo-intellectual, and intellectual aspirant, is to be a true Renaissance man — a genius whose force of will and flexible, dominating intellect allows him to master or nearly master …

Eliminating Prison Rape  —  It has been far too long in coming but, yesterday, the Federal Prison Rape Elimination commission released its report on elimination and prevention efforts regarding the biggest social problem nobody wants to talk about: prison rape.

Bolton Slams Obama For Being ‘Timid’ On Iran, Then Admits U.S. Options Limited Because Of Bush's Failures  —  Yesterday on Fox News, Sean Hannity and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton joined the right-wing chorus hitting President Obama's response to the Iranian election crisis.

Testy  —  An animated and testy President Obama during this presser.  Partly a function, I think, of him pushing back hard on two media/GOP narratives: one, that he's not been strong enough on Iran so that his recent harsher rhetoric amounts to a shift in his position; and, two …

Iranian authorities scramble to negate Neda Soltan ‘martyrdom’  —  The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of a student shot dead in Tehran to take down mourning posters as they struggle to stop her becoming the rallying point for protests against the presidential election.

Mousavi, Celebrated in Iranian Protests, Was the Butcher of Beirut  —  He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Cornyn: I'll Support Norm Coleman if He Appeals to the Supreme Court  —  At a luncheon at the National Republican Senatorial Committee's headquarters near Capitol Hill (organized by the Heritage Foundation), I asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) if there was a Republican game plan ready …

Ensign apologizes to GOP senators  —  Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), caught in the middle of a sex scandal, apologized to his Senate Republican colleagues during a closed-door luncheon, several senators said Tuesday.  —  Ensign made brief remarks, took no questions and was greeted by a round of applause.

Rubio's curious Tweet  —  Twitter hasn't always been a politician's best friend — see Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra's comparison of House Republican floor rebellions to the uprising in Iran or Newt Gingrich calling Sonia Sotomayor a “racist.”  —  Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio …